I must have been 6 or 7 when I first visited the spring at Mattan. My Nani took me there. She told the old story about the royal fish with golden earring. I saw people swimming in the spring, swimming to a platform in center of the pool and praying. From a distance, I never could see what exactly was in the center besides the Shiv Ling. I couldn’t swim. This year I again visited the place. The fish were there. No swimmers. Winter. I still can’t swim. But, now I could see. In the center, besides the Shiv Ling, is another slab. When I was a kid no one could have told me what it was. Yet, now I know. It’s no god. In the center is another one of those anonymous “Hero Stones” of Kashmir, memorial in honor of death of a warrior in battle. Somehow, there is not a single academic research paper on study of memorial stones still strewn all across Kashmir valley.
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